Nuclear Winter (Book 1): First Winter

by Nathan Jones

  * * * * *

  Aspen Hill waited with something between anticipation and dread for Grimes to come back with news, or at least send word through Lucas and Chauncey.

  In spite of the ever-present threat of winter looming over them not much work was accomplished that day. Those who'd taken part in the morning attack were resting, especially those who'd been with Gutierrez watching the camp all night. There was also the sense of mourning for members of the patrol who'd died yesterday.

  And, it had to be said, there was the tenseness of having four soldiers guarding the clinic in rotating shifts. They were there to keep watch on the prisoners who were too wounded to move, at least until a properly equipped medical vehicle could come pick them up. But although the soldiers were courteous when addressed and expressionless otherwise, Matt got the sense they were also there to keep any Aspen Hill citizens from getting ideas about exacting their own vengeance.

  A reasonable precaution, if unnecessary.

  Derek manning the radio reported that while Grimes and his staff weren't relaying any news, the colonel was still having his people touch base with the town every few hours. Almost as if trying to make up for his previous blatant silence in the face of their pleas for help. A bit of news did trickle through, though, mostly from secondary sources.

  The biggest news was that a serious upset was happening in Rogers's camp. Apparently Grimes had been “displeased” with the conditions there and had called for resources to be relocated from another camp to aid in the immediate needs of the refugees until things could be sorted out. Matt wasn't sure if that meant Rogers had been tossed out, hopefully with a swift kick to see him out the door, but it seemed like a good sign.

  In spite of everything there were a few attempts by displaced refugees in the area to sneak into town. Either they hadn't heard about the camp to the north being wiped out, and the military finally being active in the area to put down the chaos, or they were making one last desperate attempt to do something, anything. Probably as a prelude to fleeing the area. Either way Trev's defenders rounded them up and tossed them in the makeshift prison cabin for Grimes to deal with when he returned.

  At the very least, when they reported the attempted intrusions over the radio the military responded promptly on the issue, with assurances they'd handle it and instructions to hold the prisoners unharmed until then. It looked as if someone had finally gotten the message, probably after having it screamed in his ear by an irate NCO taking his own flak from up the chain of command.

  Night fell with no further word, and everyone went to sleep in tense anticipation. The next day brought the sudden arrival of cold weather, accompanied by a stiff wind and high scudding clouds overhead. The chill held on until nearly noon, when it finally relented enough for people to swap from coats to light jackets, or even long-sleeved shirts.

  That was also when they got news that Grimes was headed their way, to bring Chauncey and Lucas back home and to fill the town in on what had happened since his earlier visit.

  Matt was more relaxed in his response this time around. He didn't require everyone to stay indoors, although he did ask them to not crowd if they could avoid it. And while he had Trev get the defenders in place, just as a precaution, he didn't expect there was any threat.

  This time the colonel came with a much smaller convoy, just three trucks. Again the man hopped down from his vehicle without any sort of protective escort, although he was accompanied by Lucas and Chauncey.

  The three made their way to the gathered crowd to explain the situation. Grimes didn't seem to mind letting everyone know what was going on. In fact, he was happy to raise his voice for those farther back as he gave them the news.

  First off, as they'd suspected Rogers was no longer in charge of the refugee camp. He'd been relieved of duty and faced a dishonorable discharge. The major's replacement was doing his best to fix the situation there.

  Second off, Grimes had patrols scouring as much of the area as possible to find the displaced refugees and bring them back to camp, where they'd be watched for the time being. For those accused of committing crimes, if witnesses came forward and could eyeball the perpetrator the colonel's staff would do their best to ensure justice was done.

  Grimes couldn't force the refugees to come back with him, aside from those suspected of committing crimes. But today's sudden turn to cold weather actually helped there. Few of the men out on the mountainsides were equipped to handle even these temperatures at night, which meant they wouldn't have much choice besides returning to a refugee camp and hoping for a better situation this time around.

  Matt had been hoping for a bit sterner punishments, but he supposed he'd have to take what he could get. People like Rogers had a way of ducking consequences, and as for the bandits who'd killed their victims, and so wouldn't have to worry about witnesses, there wasn't much anyone could do to even pinpoint who they were, let alone accuse them.

  There was one other group mentioned which Matt was relieved to hear news of, although it had taken longer than expected. Rogers had refused to say anything about the whereabouts of the soldiers who'd been with him when he came for Aspen Hill's “surplus” food, the ones who'd refused to turn weapons on Aspen Hill residents. And in spite of Grimes growing increasingly irate in his insistence, it'd taken nearly a full day to locate them.

  It turned out that after being severely disciplined, the twenty men had been reassigned to refugee camps farther south. Rogers had further discredited them by labeling them lazy troublemakers and accepting the dregs of units at those camps as their replacements. Ironically those incompetents and malcontents had become some of the major's most loyal supporters, at least until Grimes ousted him yesterday.

  That incident had been expunged from the records of the twenty men, and they were free to return to their original posts if they wished. Now that Rogers was gone many of them had, which meant Aspen Hill might have friends in the refugee camp for future dealings.

  As for Aspen Hill, there would be no further harassment from the military about their supplies or taking in refugees. And unless other evidence of malfeasance was brought to bear they also wouldn't face any punishment for the actions they'd taken against bandits in their area.

  It was everything the townspeople had wanted to hear, and more than most had expected. The mood was relieved, even celebratory, as Grimes fell silent and stepped back to let them soak in the knowledge that the ordeal was over.

  Matt followed him over, mostly out of earshot of the crowd. “Thanks for sorting this out, Colonel,” he said, offering the older man a sincere handshake. “It was getting ugly for us for a while.”

  Grimes scowled, although not specifically at Matt. “Ugly all around. Issues of right and wrong aside, and even admitting that most of the blame lies on the military's end of things, your man Chauncey's also been giving us a public relations battering on the radio.”

  Matt blinked. “Really? I thought he wasn't making much headway over Rogers's narrative.”

  “You and me both, Mayor,” the colonel growled. “I just barely learned of it. My own fault, for assuming that what people are saying on military channels is all the conversation there is. The boys in uniform were backing Rogers out of solidarity, but with the civilians it's a completely different story. Several towns and settlements in the area are on the verge of calling the former camp coordinator a tinpot dictator, one working with my approval in a military dictatorship. And the civilians are a much, much bigger group than the soldiers I have with me, a group I hadn't heard a peep out of because none of them wanted to make an issue of it, just in case they got the same treatment your town did.”

  “Sounds like a mess all around,” Matt commented.

  “You don't know the half of it.” Grimes rubbed between his eyes. “I'll spend the rest of the time we have until the snows fall putting out fires from this, and you can bet in the spring people will be demanding an election to restore civilian government. I don't suppose I blame them, since pu
tting the power in the hands of the military sets a dangerous precedent.” He sighed. “Long term I want to get back to the system we had, preferably when it still worked reasonably well, but it sure makes my job more difficult in the here and now.”

  “I regret Aspen Hill's role in all this,” Matt said. Not exactly an apology, but even without the benefit of Catherine's advice he wasn't about to say anything that indicated his town was at fault for what had happened. At least he could commiserate.

  “If that's true then have your man on the radio keep telling the truth going forward, in this case about the situation being resolved and the military doing its best to make things right. The last thing we need is widespread civil unrest over chasing a mistake that's been corrected.”

  “Fair enough,” Matt said. “If you're making things right then it's only fair people know.”

  “Appreciate that.” Grimes abruptly shifted in place, looking a bit reluctant. “I also want you to know that sending Aspen Hill's delegation home and refusing to listen to your town's side of things wasn't malicious.”

  “Colonel?” Matt replied hesitantly. How exactly did you respond to something like that?

  The senior officer continued with the plodding tone of someone who had something to get off his chest. “It was a combination of a lot of things: overwork, enormous amounts of pressure from my responsibilities, bad intel, bias in favor of the men under my command, and a negative predisposition towards your town.”

  Matt wasn't sure why the man was telling him this. Guilt? Trying to excuse away his culpability? “All right.” Then he couldn't help himself. “What negative predisposition?”

  The colonel chuckled humorlessly. “That you guys go off half-cocked. Back when we were fighting the blockheads, a few of your strikes against the forces occupying the area around your town caused a hassle for me.”

  “They did?” Matt blurted, incredulous. “We barely made a dent in the grand scheme of things.”

  “For want of a horseshoe . . .” Grimes replied. “Small things, I'll admit, and you did more good than harm. Mostly it was the fact that you never bothered to let us know what you were doing so we could plan accordingly.”

  “We, uh, hadn't considered that,” Matt admitted sheepishly. “I guess we figured the area we were guarding was our business. But since we were part of the larger war we really should've been coordinating better with the military.”

  The older man waved him off. “You got better later on, probably thanks to your radio man Chauncey. And my people who worked with you had good things to say, from what little I heard. But with so much else to worry about a bad first impression was all I had time to give you.”

  Huh. So Grimes could've been an ally if Lewis had just taken the time to radio the guys up north that they were going to be stirring up the hornet's nest around Aspen Hill. Such a simple thing to get so many people killed.

  Of course, even if the colonel had a legitimate complaint about something that happened during the fight against the blockheads, it had nothing to do with what'd happened here. Nor should it have. “Was that why Rogers went after us, too?”

  Grimes paused thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Possibly. Something about your town definitely seems to have put a stick up his butt. And the fact that you tried to handle him on your own certainly didn't help things.”

  “We constantly tried to tell our side of the story and ask for outside arbitration,” Matt pointed out.

  The colonel didn't get defensive or back down this time. “Yes, but when it came right down to it instead of going through proper channels you drew weapons on one of my officers and twenty of his men.”

  Since going through proper channels had done so much good. “I guess we're used to only being able to depend on ourselves when it comes to handling problems,” Matt replied. “That comes from hard experience.”

  He hadn't meant to be quite that accusatory. Or maybe he had. The senior officer gave him a resigned look. “I don't expect you to let me off the hook for this mess, but things will go better if we can work together from now on. I hope my efforts to rectify this situation help with that.”

  Well Grimes was right about that first part. But at least he'd paved the way to heal relations in the future. Matt was willing to cut him some slack. “Aspen Hill wants to work with the military and be part of the larger events going on in the Rocky Mountains. Keep us in the loop and we'll do our best.”

  The colonel abruptly chuckled and offered his hand. “I made a jibe about your age when we first met, Larson, but you do a good job. I can see why you landed this job.”

  “Thank you, Colonel. That means a lot.” After they exchanged a second handshake Matt indicated the crowd, and Grimes nodded and allowed himself to be led back that way. Hopefully he'd be willing to field a few questions and make further comments.

  But just short of rejoining the Aspen Hill townspeople the older man stopped again. “By the way. The initial surplus given to the town, which Major Rogers largely used as an excuse to start this mess in the first place, was arranged by Sergeant Ethan Davis, with the support of Lieutenant Dell Faraday and approval by my staff.”

  “Good to know,” Matt said. The news coming now was a surprise, but he'd suspected it would be something like that back when Corporal Bryant first delivered the supplies.

  Grimes shook his head. “In fact it wasn't a surplus at all. It was provided specifically for services rendered by the town and its volunteers, as well as the loan or gift of valuable heavy weaponry and its ammunition, a captured enemy truck and fuel along with a significant stock of supplies, and finally the sale of dozens of good condition M16s and 1911s.”

  That certainly seemed reasonable, although Matt's brow furrowed. “For that last one I was led to believe we already received payment.”

  The colonel smiled slightly. “As I understand it you received verbal permission for first chance to sift through the trash Sergeant Davis left behind when he rolled out. That doesn't seem like an equitable exchange.”

  “So Rogers was trying to steal our own supplies from us, and lied about how we got them?”

  Grimes shook his head slowly. “In this case I believe the Major was in fact misinformed as to specific details. But basically yes.”

  Matt wasn't so sure. Rogers was a bureaucrat, specific details were his bread and butter. But it wasn't worth making an issue of. At least now there was even better assurance the military wouldn't be coming after their supplies again. Hopefully now the town could get back to scrambling to survive in peace.

  The colonel graciously accepted the refreshments Matt brought out to make the event a proper celebration. He stayed for a half hour or so chatting with the leaders of the town, discussing the future of the US.

  At one point he took a swig of his powdered lemonade and grimaced. “Some folks have started calling what we've got here in the Rockies the New United States.” He spat off to one side. “New what? We're US citizens, guarded by the US Armed Forces and occupying US territory. It's irritating enough when people talk like we're remnants of the country. What we need is to return to our roots, not abandon them for something new.”

  “Maybe a bit of both is called for,” Lucas said mildly. “I'd also prefer to call ourselves the United States we still are, but I'd say the New United States at least gives a nod to our roots.”

  “That may be,” the colonel grumbled. “But when the elections roll around I won't be getting behind anyone who uses the name. How about the message it sends to the rest of the world? This is our home, our land. If we start acting like we're a brand new country then the Gold Bloc and Canada and Mexico and everyone else will have no problem arguing we don't have a legitimate claim, and will come try to take a piece of us.” He spat again. “Besides, New United States just sounds stupid. Name one country out there with “new” in its name.”

  Predictably, Lewis was willing to field that one. “New Zealand and New Guinea, off the top of my head.”

  Grimes waved that off.
“Would you really want to be a citizen of the New United States?”

  “Not really,” Matt admitted. There were a few nods around the group.

  “I actually don't care all that much,” Deb offered. “As long as it's a stable country.”

  Before Grimes left he had a gift for them. Specifically, six months of supplies for the wounded veterans and the recruited refugees. “Our job is to make sure everyone has their share,” he said by way of explanation. “I don't know what this Corporal Bryant was thinking pawning veterans off on you without supplies for them. If anyone deserves their due, it's those hurt protecting our country. If anything they deserve more than we can give, but this'll have to do for now.”

  “It's more than enough,” Matt said. There was no shortage of volunteers to offload the much-needed supplies.

  Then the senior officer was hopping into the passenger seat of his truck with a final wave, and the convoy rumbled up the road headed back to Manti.

  As Matt stood watching them go, arms wrapped around Sam, Gutierrez sidled up to watch with them. “So when the Colonel pulled you aside, did he tell you what Rogers could expect for all the trouble he's caused?”

  Matt shrugged. “I heard what you did. Dishonorable discharge.”

  “So that's it?” Gutierrez demanded, glaring after the trucks. “Rogers caused the deaths of who knows how many people, and suffering for way more. A lot of innocent people, and even the guilty might not've deserved what happened to them before he drove them to it. And he gets to just walk away with no more than a light scolding?”

  Matt shook his head. “That seems to be how the world works. The people who cause the most harm always avoid the consequences. It's usually the innocent who suffer in their place.” He sighed. “I don't like it either, but for me it's enough that he's been booted from the military so he's not in a position to do any more harm. In the end whether he was jailed, exiled, put up in front of a firing squad, or just discharged from his commission, the results for all of us would be the same. The problem he was causing is solved, and hopefully his replacement will learn something from his mistakes.”